The Fallen Friend
Times have been tough for Underside since Faraon the Friend went into exile. Dozens of rival gangs emerged to fill the power vacuum, and things still haven't stabilized. The sailors' tavern, The Fallen Friend, is a reflection of this. Everything here is built of thick, sturdy wood to handle being tossed around or used for protection, while an abundance of lamps prevent any shadows deep enough for somebody to lurk in. Mirrors of various levels of quality (apparently taken from one of the 'resorts' that thrived during Faraon's reign) cover the walls over tables and behind the bar so that no matter where one sits, they can see if anyone is sneaking up on them.

The grizzled old Rhian that Tasha grew up knowing as 'Uncle Rufio' is tending bar. There are also enough of the Rake's crew about that Tasha can be sure Eyeshine is around as well. That neither he or her mother are visible though might cause the woman a bit of concern.

Oi, this isn' good. I was 'opin' they'd be asleep, bu' I'm thinkin' in buns. Sailors never sleep when there's drink an' flirtin' to be done, Tasha thinks as she looks around from the doorway. An', no mum. An no Cap'n. I 'ope tha's just a coincidence. She tries to assure herself that she's faced much more intimidating obstacles than the possibility her mother and pseudo-father are talking about her somewhere, but she finds it difficult to believe. While The Fenris was a horror beyond her world, mom and Eyeshine are very much a part of her world. The easy-to-digest reality of the two makes them that much more intimidating. Taking a breath, Tasha steps inside and heads for the bar. "Oi, Uncle, is me mum about?"

"Back room," the big Rhian grunts, gesturing over his shoulder. "Talkinboutcha, I reckon. Been at it awhile."

Tasha's ears droop. "Oh, is tha' 'ow it is?" She breathes a sigh, then hops up on a stool. "I'm goin' to need a drink 'ere, some liquid courage'll do for this."

"How much courage you want?" Rufio asks, getting out a (mostly) fresh leather cup, and an unlabeled black bottle.

"Enough to dull the edge bu' no' dull the senses. Goin' to need me brain workin' if I'm goin' to be talkin' at both of 'em together," the younger Vartan replies.

"Wouldn't know 'bout that," Rufio admits, and pours a finger of Wild Turkey Black into the cup, followed by three times as much water. "Here, drink it slow. Prolly ain't had no real booze since you left 'ere, I wager."

"Oi, 'no' real booze' is a good wa of sayin' wha' I 'ad," Tasha agrees. She takes the drink and sips, pondering after that the old her would have bucked the warning and drank the whole thing down just to fly in the face of safety. This mus' be wha' it feels like to get old, she decides. A few sips later, and she asks, "'As there been any yellin'?"

"Eh, just the sort of noises you don't go inquiring after," Rufio says, winking his lazy eye. "That was when Mr. Sparkles came in though. They been talking since then." For some reason, Rufio has always called the Captain 'Mr. Sparkles', but then he was allegedly a hand on the Rake when Eyeshine was just crew himself.

Tasha's brow goes up. "I always wun'ered why you called 'im 'Mr. Sparkles, bu' I never though' to ask. Migh' be the last time I get a chance, so 'ow 'bout it?" She swirls her drink a little, and adds, "I'll even pay for this drink!"

"'Cuz, he had the sparkliest tail when he started on the Rake," Rufio recalls. "He could be covered head to hoof in ptera muck, but his tail would still sparkle. And that's why his nick back then was Mr. Sparkles. Don't ask me how yer mom got the name Dizzy though."

"I can imagine," Tasha says in a dry voice, tapping her noggin with her free hand. "Now I wun'er if I 'ave a nickname somewhere. 'Course, they do call me Aldara in Ama- … aroun' Olympia, an' I got called an' angel once. 'Ow's tha' for off, aye?" She grins, then remarks, "Never figured the Cap'n for a dandy, bu' now tha' I think on it, it fits."

"Well, it helped that old Captain Brushmore couldn't pronounce his name without lisping, 'cuz of that time he got kicked in the mouth by a Dromy," Rufio notes, rubbing his nose in sympathy.

Tasha leans in closer, ears swiveling forward. "So, tha' means you know the Cap'n's real name, aye? Wha' is it, anyway?" She leans forward a little more, in hopes she'll be distracting enough to scramble the man's good judgment.

Rufio gives Tasha the squinty-eye of disapproval. "Ah, that's my secret to use on 'im, dear," he says. "How's your courage now?"

"No' good enough to trick you, bu' it'll do." The woman stands up, taking her drink with her, and as she walks around the bar towards the back she tells Rufio, "One o' these days, I'm goin' to get tha' secret out o' you."

The Rhian leans back an raps on the door for Tasha. "Dizzy, yer gel is here!" he calls.

SCRAWK "Send her in!" calls back Desdemona, in a somewhat neutral tone of voice.

"'Ere we go," Tasha says to no one in particular, and with a hand, pushes the door open and steps inside.

The back room serves as the kitchen and storeroom for the bar. There are racks of bottles and kegs, a sink and stove, and a few extra chairs and tables (along with the remains of a few others). Tasha's mother sits on one of the chairs, with Eyeshine on another next to her, and both watch Tasha as soon as she enters. There isn't even a table or barrel between them to hide behind.

Tasha's ears twitching, the woman fighting allowing them to flatten at the sight of both of the people who raised her staring at her like they are now. It reminds her of all the times she got in trouble, and had to answer for it. Only this time, she's an adult – and it might be the last time she sees them like this. "'Ello mum, Cap'n," she greets the two, trying to sound neutral, herself. "I 'ere you've been talkin'?"

"Eyeshine tells me ya left the Rake to go into crazy-bun-land," Desdi notes. There's something unnerving about those big raptor eyes when they stare at you like a bit of meat.

"Aye," the smaller Vartan answers, head nodding slightly. "I' was a lovely trip. Met the locals. Met a lot o' people. Learned a thing or two." Her head tilts, one brow raising in a questioning manner. "Is there somethin' wrong abou' tha'?"

"Ain't like you to go wandering off with clients," Desdi notes. "Was you chasing one of the buns?"

Tasha considers that a moment. Was she chasing Calli? Maybe for jus' a bit, bu' she was'n' iner'ested an' there was more to it, she decides.

"S'more complicated than tha' mum. Migh 'ave been after the golden bun, bu' she wasn' for it. Found 'er in'ersting all the same, wan'ed to see where she was goin' an' wha' she was doin'. An', when we got there, I wan'ed to see more. I saw a lot in Amazonia. A 'ole lot. I'm no' the same person I was, mum," Tasha answers at length.

The bigger woman produces something from behind her seat: the painting done on Dream Street in Abu Dhabi. "Wha' 'bout this?" she asks. "Did shiny-pants bun do something to you? What changed you? What happened in bun-land?"

Tasha suddenly sputters at the sight of the picture, almost dropping her drink in the process. "'Ey! You weren' s'posed to show anyone tha' – Mr. Sparkles!" For the moment, the young woman's more interested in glaring at Eyeshine than answering the question.

Eyeshine turns his real eye up to the ceiling, and mutters, "Ver' 'suasive, yer mam… "

Tasha rolls her eyes and throws her hands up. She can't deny it, though; her mother's very persuasive when she wants something. Dangerously persuasive. Shaking her head, the young Vartan turns back to her mother and explains, "It was jus' a lark, mum! There was this street in Abu Dabi, the Street o' Dreams, an' this poodle was doin' paintin's an' said I'd be good for i'. The bun in the picture is jus' a friend. 'E 'as a woman, an' 'e's no' my type anyway. He's jus' a good 'earted man who gets caught in more than 'is bun 'eart can 'andle. The two others are a married couple, they jus' wan'ed to do somethin' difren'. It wasn' nothin'! It did a lot more than jus' tha'!"

Desdemona points a talon at the shinies (depicted in crushed glass mixed into the paint) in Tasha's tail. "Why you no bring me back souvenirs!" she demands.

Tasha opens her nouth to defend herself again, but is derailed by her mother asking for souvineirs! She blinks, working her muzzle. "Tha's no' true! I jus' 'avn't 'ad a momen' to think abou' wha' I brought – I've three men to be lookin' af'er, a trip off worl', Calli's shipmen', an' … Other things 'sides." After putting her cup down, Tasha pushes her sleeve up and shows her mother the bangle on her arm. Made of metal from beyond the stars, it was given to her in thanks for her quest to stop the horrors of The Fenris.

"What… that?" Desdemona asks, leaning in close and bringing the candle over as well. "Eyeshine say brown bun fill ship with treasure, but no mirror-metal!" She now looks accusingly at Eyeshine for supposedly holding back on her.

"I no see that before," Eyeshine says in his defense. "She wearing sleeves when she come back!"

"Don' twist 'is beak mum, 'e didn' know. This is special. This is wha' they gave me for doin' somethin' importan' for 'em. See mum, they thought I was … A goddess, o' sorts. Bu' their leaders knew otherwise, an' still they le' me try an' prove meself to the temple – this bein' the real Temple o' Abaddon – 'cause I wan'ed to be strong. Real strong, like they were, like Abaddon. An', I did it. We did it. We fought monsters an' worse, an' we came back with this an' more," Tasha explains.

"Wark?" Desdi asks, hearing something that gets her attention more than shinies do. "Gods? You messed 'round with gods? That's bad as magic!"

"They're no' tha' bad! They're no' bad at all! I learned a lot in the Temple o' Abaddon, they taugh' me no' to rush in to things, an' to think wit' me 'ead an' no' me fist. An', I learned no' to use people, to be a person worth followin' wit'out threats or flirtin'," the young Vartan retorts.

Desdemona crosses her arms and glowers still, unconvinced. "Ah, they teaches you all this for frees, eh?"

At this, Tasha shakes her head. "No' free," she admits. "I 'ad to learn mos' o' it meself, the 'ard way. An' as they did for me, I did for them. As I said mum, they sen' me on somethin' dangerous. Somethin' … " Tasha waves her hands vaguely, unable to quite describe the enormity of The Fenris, " … bigger than anythin' I 'ad ever seen before. No' jus' big, bu' big in the brain. Big in mind an' though', somethin' tha' made the worl' seem smaller."

Now the matronly Vartan just stares blankly at Tasha. "Cor… they gave you religion didn't they? And bun religion to boot! Tasha… buns is cute but they is practically food and scared of loud noises!"

"No' these buns. Mos' o' them are bigger than you mum, an' even the little ones are dangerous. You met Calli righ'? She's the one wha' gutted those men, the woman I lef' with. She's jus' a little one, bu' she's deadly; the bigger ones can tear metal off metal. Bu', tha's 'sides the matter. Religion's jus' part o' it – an' its Olympian religion, mum – the res' is learnin'. I learned somethin', somethin' big. Somethin' too big to forget," Tasha explains. All this fevered defending of herself makes her thristy, not to mention desire more courage. She takes another sip.

"Well, what'd you learn then from these giant buns?" Desdi asks, a little less severely now that she's reminded of Calligenia's first visit to the Fallen Friend. "Is it about this mirror metal? It's the shiniest thing ever, it is."

Tasha reaches up and begins to tug the armband down her arm, talking as she goes. "It is. They mine it, you see. Tha's wha' they wan'ed me to 'elp with, the mine. There'd been this … monster, they said. It 'ad been terrorizin' their buns – killin' them an' stealin' the ones tha' didn'. We foun' it's lair an' … an' it wasn' wha' we expected. It was … " Pausing in her tugging, Tasha stops to take a long drink. The memory of what happened to Nora still hurts, and the discoveries that came with the knowledge still hurt her mind. "A ship."

"The monsters was a ship?" Desdi asks, taking a sniff of Tasha's drink to gauge just how strong it might be.

Tasha frowns at her drink, then hands it to her mother. She needs to appear lucid for this, and the drink won't help. "Aye," she answers, nodding. "An' old ship. Older than this city, ol'er than Olympia or anythin'. As old as the Temple o' Rephidim itself. It was a relic. A ship from the stars."

"SCRAWK! You mess with gods and First Ones?" Desdi demands. "You casting spells and hexes next!"

"I didn' mean to," Tasha insists a little loudly. "I mean, I men' to 'elp them. bu' no' find wha' I found. It jus' 'appened. An' I can' make it not 'appen. Its stuck in me brain like tha' Savanite Sign it taugh me, an' Nora's memory. Like the men an' the dead an' … " Tasha's breath catches as she begins to feel choked up at the memory. She reaches a hand for her forehead, rubbing it.

Strong hands grab Tasha's shoulders and hug her to a feather bosom. "Calms down, you home now," Desdi says. "No' can hurt you here."

Tasha breathes a sigh, letting her mother manhandle her for a moment. Having her mother close is comforting, but she knows that what she says isn't true. And more so, that she can't stay even if it was. "A lot o' people died, mum. Some were old, an' died in a place we foun' on the journey. Some were ancien', an' died when their ship crashed. An' some were killed by the … the machine, the MOTHER-machine that guided the ship. An' some tha' died 'ad memories tha' lingered, an' one o' these I talked to. 'Er name was Nora. She looked like me if I 'ad been a Jupani. She asked me to do somethin', an' I'm still doin' it. That's, that's why I 'ave to go," she whispers, closing her eyes.

"A spirit ask you to do something?" Desdi asks softly, rocking Tasha back and forth as if she was still a child. Maybe to the older Vartan, her daughter is still a child.

Tasha wobbles, blinking, but she doesn't struggle. "A spirit? It was somethin' like a spirit, bu' diffren', of machines an' metal an memories stored away. Their machines, they're no' like anythin'. They're like magic, they do the impossible, bu' they're all jus' machines. All part o' a bigger machine, tha' used to sail the stars like we sail the sky or see. No, wai', it is like somethin': the Temple o' Rephidim," Tasha murmurs reflectively.

"What did the spirit ask you to do?" Desdi repeats, apparently not about to change her definition of spirit at the moment.

"It asked me to take the memories to their 'ome, or wha' was their 'one long ago. One o' their 'omes. The one they came from in the firs' place is far, far away, an' they couln' come 'ome. They're our ancestors," explains Tasha in a quiet murmur. She reaches over and rests her head on her mother's shoulder, hugging her. "I 'ae to go to a base on the moon on orbit around the planet Abaddon, an' I don' know 'ow, bu' I 'ave to try."

Desdi holds Tasha out away from her now, and looks her in the eyes. "An' you really want to do this? It not out of fear or guilt or nothing and you don' feel forced?" she asks.

"I wan' to do it because for the firs' time I feel like someone needs me, an' tha' I'm doin' somethin' tha' really matters. I wan' to do it for Nora, 'cause she was a good person an' 'er memory deserves to be honored, 'er quest fulfilled. If I didn' do it, it'd 'aunt me forever. I couldn' even forget, its tgis great secret tha' I know now, an' I 'ave to learn more. All these, tha's why I wan' to go," the younger woman answers, honestly. She meets her mother's gaze as she talks, and in the end, smiles a little, her tail wagging. "I am afraid mum, bu' tha's no why I'm doin' this. When I 'elped those people, I saw a me I liked. When I spoke to Nora, I saw a person I could be. Now I 'ave to fulfill 'er wish an' mine."

"Okays," Desdi says, as if it's something difficult. "Crew takes care of crew, is way of the sky. Put them to rest." Then her mood seems to switch from solemn to something else as she asks, "Now tells me how you meet handsome wolf old 'nuff to be you daddy."

Tasha stares at her mother in disbelief, not expecting her to let her go so easily. Her muzzle twitches, then she leans over and kisses her mother on the side of the beak. "I'll come back some day, I promise. Bring you a better souvineer," she insists, her voice wavering from the emotion of her mother's acceptance. She opens her muzzle to add something, then when her mother asks about Gabriel, her inner ears redden. "Oh, oi!" Leaning back, she grins a little. "E's, well, 'e's … old enough to be everyone's daddy. E's … ," she gestures vaguely, then giggles a little, " … somethin' else I foun'."

"He not as shiny as bracelet," Desdemona notes, sitting back in her chair. She notices Eyeshine again, and says, "You kin scoot now, see to your crew! This girl talk." At the mention of the Dread Words, the Captain scrawks and is out as fast as possible without looking like he's been chased out.

"You goin' to marry 'im mum? You know 'e's after your tail," Tasha says after the Captain flees the room. Remembering the armband, Tasha finishes sliding it off her arm and dangles it where her mother can grab it.

And snatch it she does, saying, "When he give me shiny like this I marry him." She actually sticks the bracelet into her beak to taste the metal with her tongue. "Jupani give you this?" she then asks with suspicion.

"In a way," Tasha answers. "Its part o' the ship, the ancient ship we foun'. The buns were minin' the wreckage, no' the ore in the groun'. They use the metal for armor an' decorations, like this one." The younger woman then grins at her mother, before shrugging. "'E doesn' need to give me nothin', 'e jus' needs to ask. Doesn' 'ave much to give shinies-wise, 'ad a 'ard time o' the last several thousan' years."

"He don' look so old," Desdi comments as she tries to catch her reflecting in the curve of metal.

"'E was asleep in the ship. 'E's its captain, 'e flew threw the stars an' came 'ere in the time o' the Ark. Mum, this is a secret, you can never tell anyone who 'e really is or where 'e came from. 'E doesn' 'ave a place or a time anymore, bu' I wan' to 'elp 'im make one here. I think 'e migh' fine something familiar on Abaddon, somethin' called the 'Expedition,' so tha's where we're goin' firs'," says Tasha. A pause, and she asks, "E's a good man, isn' 'e? I'd like to 'ave a family wit' 'im some day, bu' I'm always worried abou' wha' 'e think 'o me, an' 'ow 'e's holdin' on. The other Jupani too, they woke up with 'im."

"You… you brought back First Ones?" is all Desdi can manage after that, looking up at Tasha instead of into the shiny bracelet. "And you wants to lay with their Captain?"

Tasha grins widely at the question, reaching over to snatch the armband away while her mother isn't looking at it. She then dangles it in front of her face, laughing. "'E's no' a Firs' One. They tol' me about them, the Firs' Ones an' the Sifras – Sifras bein' even older, them's the ones who made the crystals an' maybe even all the planets. Maybe even magic. Bu' the First Ones an' the Sifras came before those men. They came to this worl' to learn abou' them, bu' got stuck. Tha's where all o' us came form, long ago, from somewhere far off in the Sea o' Stars. They call themselves 'Karnors,' bu' they're Jupani all the same." She then offers the armband back, "An' yes, I do. 'E's a Jupani true, so we migh' work out."

"I sees now," Desdi says, narrowing her eyes a little. "You wants to stay on Abaddon with this man, is that it? That a horrible world full of fire and monsters."

"Bu' full o' technology an' 'is people, too! Tha's where mos' o' the other ships landed, the ones tha' didn' crash 'ere or elsewhere. Tha's where we'll find more about the Expedition an' where we all came from. Migh' even find a Titan, for all I know! I wan' to know it all, I wan' to know abou' their great machines an' their science an' their mysteries, an' I wan' to do it with 'im at me side," says Tasha. She tilts her head, ears skewing. "It's a good life, mum, isn' it?"

"Oi… a month ago you didn't want to know nothing more 'n when you were shipping out again," Desdi says, lowering her head. "You soun'… you soun' like there ain't nothing left yer old life here can offer ya, Tash."

Tasha's ears wilt, and she butts her nose to her mother's beak. "Tha's no' true, I 'ave family 'ere. I'll come back an' visit – an' I 'ave to know 'ow you go' the name Dizzy an' wha' Cap'n Eyeshine's real name is. Mr. Sparkles! Haw!"

"Oi, Roofie's talking outta turn again, is he?" Desdi says, standing up and getting back some of her fire. "I'll go pull out the last of his tail hairs, I will!"

"Aww, don' be givin' 'im a 'ard time. I ;ave to get tha' name out 'o 'im some day, an' I need 'im alive for tha'," the younger Vartan teases. She glances at the door, and adds, "'Ow abou' I 'elp you with the tavern, one las' nigh'? It'll be like ol' times, an' I can say my peace with the crew, so there's nothin' left unsaid."